Wisconsin Soccer Central

There will soon be another Wisconsin native playing professional soccer in Europe.

Hannah Kernen (Belleville/Sugar River/UW-Green Bay) recently signed with Swedish club Täby FK, which plays in the Division 1 Norra Svealand – one of six leagues that makes up the country's third division for women's soccer.

She will graduate from UW-Green Bay on May 16 with a degree in human biology with an emphasis in health science, then head to Täby, just north of Stockholm. The team is 1-2-0 so far this season and eighth in the 12-team league.

Kernen had 11 goals and four assists in her career with the Phoenix, earning a spot on the All-Horizon League first team in 2013 and collecting second-team honors as a senior last fall.

She was the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association state player of the year after her season year with Sugar River in 2011 – she ranks fourth in state history with 131 career goals, according to the WSCA record book – and played youth soccer with the Madison 56ers and for the club's Women's Premier Soccer League team.

"Hannah's athleticism, attacking mentality, confidence on the ball and strength in character will undoubtedly make an impact at Täby FK," UW-Green Bay coach Kim Brandao said in a news release. "Being an athlete at the next level takes more than talent, and we are proud of her success."

• Tosaint Ricketts (UW-Green Bay) set up his team's first goal as host Hapoel Haifa rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Hapoel Petah Tikva 3-2 Saturday, ending an eight-game winless streak and keeping their hopes alive to avoid relegation from Israel's Ligat ha'Al. With two matches left in the season, Hapoel Haifa (8-17-6) is seventh in the eight-team relegation round, one point behind Ashdod (6-12-13) and two behind Hapoel Acre (7-13-11) – the bottom two teams drop into the second-tier Liga Leumit next season. Ricketts assisted on Hamdi Salihi's 45th-minute goal for Hapoel Haifa, which plays at Hapoel Ra'anana on Friday and plays host to Maccabi Netanya in its season finale May 15. Oshri Roash added the equalizer in the 48th and Salihi, an Albanian who played with D.C. United in Major League Soccer in 2012 and '13, scored the winner in the 52nd. It was the first win for Hapoel Haifa since a 2-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv back on Feb. 21. On Twitter: @TosaintRicketts
• Alex Horwath (UW) dove to his left to save Jørn Rikard Hansen Lilleng's shot from the spot, sending SK Brann into the third round of the Norwegian Cup on Wednesday. Second-division Brann advanced 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw against host SK Vard Haugesund in the second-round match, getting a 90th-minute goal from Jakob Orlov to force extra time and avoid an upset against the third-division side. Andreas Ulland Andersen's 37th-minute penalty was the only goal allowed by Horwath in the 120 minutes of regulation and extra time. On Twitter: @AlexHorwath
• Rosie Malone-Povolny (Marquette) scored one of her team's eight first-half goals and wore the captain's armband as host Toppserien club Medkila IL throttled third-division side Mjølner 17-0 in a second-round of the women's Norwegian Cup on Tuesday. It was reportedly the largest margin of victory in a Cup match in Norway since 2007.
• Sam Dorf (Milwaukee Marquette) is headed home to Milwaukee next week, but plans return to the Rebublic of Ireland on July 1 and join Waterford United, the midfielder wrote on his blog. (Read post) Dorf had a trial with the SSE Airtricity League First Division team in March and signed with the club, but he later learned that he wasn't eligible to become a registered player at that time due to FIFA and Football Association of Ireland regulations. On Twitter: @Sam_United_23
• All Major Arena Soccer League games next season will use single-point scoring, the league announced last week after an owners' meeting in St. Louis. During the league's inaugural 2014-15 season, games played at four venues – Baltimore, Harrisburg, Rochester and Syracuse – used multi-point scoring, while matches at the other 19 locations used single-point scoring. The 2015-16 season again will feature a 20-game regular-season schedule, with the top three teams from each division qualifying for the playoffs. The earliest date for games is Nov. 1, with the regular season to be completed by Feb. 28 and the playoffs to start March 1. Also, the league now will be run by a five-member Board of Directors rather than a commissioner; Kevin Milliken, the MASL commissioner last season, now is the league's vice president of business development. "Merging two leagues, especially in the short period of time it was done, is no easy task. All of us owners communicated the areas we felt needed to be addressed and we made some tough decisions as a group," said Milwaukee Wave owner Mike Zimmerman, who was named president of the Board. "The league is progressing forward and we look forward to a very bright future, but we must continue to sand down our rough edges, just like any new business."